Kevin Pietersen would've played more if Michael Vaughan remained captain: Geoffrey Boycott

Former England cricket captain Kevin Pietersen was a flamboyant batsman, who was famous for his urthodox and audacious shots. He is also one of most loved cricketers in India. Englishman has a huge fan following across world. Kevin Pietersen played almost a dece for England and starred in 104 Tests, 136 ODIs and 37 T20Is in which he scored over 13,000 runs with 32 international hundreds.

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Geoffrey Boycott reckons Kevin Pietersen would have played longer if Michael Vaughan was his captain

right-hander's career came to an abrupt end after Ashes 2014 in Australia. In his final Test match, Kevin Pietersen could only man 3 and 6 in first and second innings respectively. A lot of cricket mirers believed that Kevin Pietersen was me scapegoat of 5-0 Ashes loss in Australia when his career could have gone longer.

Former England cricketer-turned-commentator Geoffrey Boycott is also of same opinion and feels that if Michael Vaughan served as skipper throughout Pietersen’s career, his career would have spanned longer. Michael Vaughan was Kevin Pietersen's first captain in international cricket as flamboyant batsman me his ODI and Test debuts under his leership  with much success and fanfare.

On Sunday, Geoffrey Boycott took to Twitter to wish Kevin Pietersen, who turned 40. Wishing right-hander, Geoffrey Boycott also picked Kevin Pietersen's innings in second Test of 4-match Test series in India in 2012 as one of best innings he witnessed by any player.

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sensational innings of 186 against India in 2012 are arguably one of best innings played by an English batsman in sub-continent. In four-match series, England were trailing 0-1 after a humiliating defeat in Ahmedab. In second Test at Wankhede Stium in Mumbai, Kevin Pietersen struck a brilliant 186 alongside captain Alastair Cook, who me 122 as England won match and n went on to win  series by 2-1.

However, a year after that, little could one have predicted that Kevin Pietersen's career would come to an abrupt end, He was t on good terms with ECB and many of his former teammates primarily due to his willingness to play in Indian Premier League (IPL). South African-born cricketer won an IPL contract in 2009 itself alongwith Andrew Flintoff, increasing England's participation in league at a time when England did t prioritize white-ball cricket. Kevin Pietersen also h a falling out with Andrew Strauss in 2012 itself by criticizing him in a series of text messs to South African players.

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Kevin Pietersen says Steve Smith where close to Virat Kohli

Recently, in an interview with Zimbabwean commentator Pommie Mbangwa, Kevin Pietersen was asked to pick between Virat Kohli and former Australia captain Steve Smith where Englishman chose India captain. 40-year-old explained his answer by saying that Kohli is a 'freakshow'. He lauded  Indian captain's record to win games for India while chasing. Kevin Pietersen furr said that with amount of pressure Kohli lives under and succeeds to deliver more often than t, Steve Smith doesn't even come close.

While Smith has predominantly ruled roost in Test cricket throughout ir careers so far, Kohli has worked grually on longest format of game to become arguably most complete batsman in modern game courtesy his ODI and T20I records. Many believe that Smith-Kohli comparison is similar to Lara-Tendulkar one of 90s.

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IM COURTESY: AP